‘Margaret,’ said he, taking her by surprise, and getting sudden possession of her hand, so that she was forced to stand still and listen, despising herself for the fluttering at her heart all the time; ’Margaret, I wish you did not like Helstone so much—­did not seem so perfectly calm and happy here.  I have been hoping for these three months past to find you regretting London—­and London friends, a little—­enough to make you listen more kindly’ (for she was quietly, but firmly, striving to extricate her hand from his grasp) ’to one who has not much to offer, it is true—­nothing but prospects in the future—­but who does love you, Margaret, almost in spite of himself.  Margaret, have I startled you too much?  Speak!’ For he saw her lips quivering almost as if she were going to cry.  She made a strong effort to be calm; she would not speak till she had succeeded in mastering her voice, and then she said: 

’I was startled.  I did not know that you cared for me in that way.  I have always thought of you as a friend; and, please, I would rather go on thinking of you so.  I don’t like to be spoken to as you have been doing.  I cannot answer you as you want me to do, and yet I should feel so sorry if I vexed you.’

‘Margaret,’ said he, looking into her eyes, which met his with their open, straight look, expressive of the utmost good faith and reluctance to give pain,

‘Do you’—­he was going to say—­’love any one else?’ But it seemed as if this question would be an insult to the pure serenity of those eyes.  ’Forgive me I have been too abrupt.  I am punished.  Only let me hope.  Give me the poor comfort of telling me you have never seen any one whom you could——­’ Again a pause.  He could not end his sentence.  Margaret reproached herself acutely as the cause of his distress.

’Ah! if you had but never got this fancy into your head!  It was such a pleasure to think of you as a friend.’

’But I may hope, may I not, Margaret, that some time you will think of me as a lover?  Not yet, I see—­there is no hurry—­but some time——­’ She was silent for a minute or two, trying to discover the truth as it was in her own heart, before replying; then she said: 

’I have never thought of—­you, but as a friend.  I like to think of you so; but I am sure I could never think of you as anything else.  Pray, let us both forget that all this’ (’disagreeable,’ she was going to say, but stopped short) ’conversation has taken place.’

He paused before he replied.  Then, in his habitual coldness of tone, he answered: 

’Of course, as your feelings are so decided, and as this conversation has been so evidently unpleasant to you, it had better not be remembered.  That is all very fine in theory, that plan of forgetting whatever is painful, but it will be somewhat difficult for me, at least, to carry it into execution.’

‘You are vexed,’ said she, sadly; ‘yet how can I help it?’